- Sostenuto
In
music , "sostenuto" is a term from Italian which means "sustained," and occasionally also implies a slowing oftempo . It usually refers to a style of playing rather than a tempo. For instance, if the tempo marking of a piece is "Adagio Sostenuto", the tempo would be slow (Adagio), and the sostenuto part of the marking tells the player to hold notes longer than they normally would, and play phrases in a verylegato style.On a modern
grand piano with three pedals, the middle pedal is usually a sostenuto pedal. It sustains "only" notes which are depressed at the time the pedal is depressed.On some upright pianos, the middle pedal sustains all notes in the bass register, but this is not a true sostenuto pedal. On other uprights, the middle pedal is a practice pedal (with a locking option) which makes the sound extremely quiet beyond the standard
soft pedal . This is often achieved by dropping a felt cloth between the hammers and the strings when the practice pedal is depressed.Note that the sostenuto pedal should not be confused with the much more commonly used
sustain pedal , which undamps "all" the strings on the piano.See also
*
Soft pedal
*Sustain pedal References
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